Corrupted Crimson

by Patrick Laplante

  The man adjusted his spectacles and looked him up and down. “Master Du, Dual Formation and Talisman Master. Age: Early twenties. Suddenly appeared out of nowhere in Quicksilver City and arrived in Songjing only recently. Has connections with the Wang family.” The man paused for a moment. “You’re good for 10,000 high-grade spirit stones at a twenty-five-percent interest rate due every week. You’re also not allowed to bring your friend Feng Ming on the premises—that guy was banned three days ago. If you want the loan, you can sign here.” He handed Cha Ming a black paper with golden writing. It was a certificate of debt with extremely harsh repayment clauses. He sighed before ultimately signing it.

  The man reviewed the document before stowing it in a spatial ring and placing a crystal card on the table. Cha Ming inspected it before proceeding to a second desk. He looked at the next three fights—a seventh-level spirit fox against a seventh-level soul-screeching owl. The payout was 5:1 if the fox won, so Cha Ming placed a 20,000-stone bet on it. Then he placed a linked bet on the next fight. He would receive a 2:1 payout if a seventh-level dire badger won out against an eighth-level spirit wolf.

  Finally, he placed a third linked bet. It was a preposterous round with a 10:1 payout. In this round, a sixth-level spirit bat would face off against a seventh-level dire badger.

  “Are you sure you wish to place these three bets?” the attendant confirmed. Although such large bets were quite common, it was rare to see one linked to so many outcomes. “Please sign this contract if you accept.”

  Another black-and-gold document was placed in front of him. Unlike the last one, this one placed a large obligation on the upper echelons of the arena to pay him should he win. After reviewing it, Cha Ming signed and forked over his 20,000 high-grade spirit stones.

  Are you sure this is a good idea? Cha Ming asked Feng Ming through his core-transmission jade.

  Mostly, Feng Ming replied. Win or lose, it’ll all work out in the end. Just trust me.

  Cha Ming groaned. Could losing on borrowed money really be considered good luck? Unable to calm his nerves, he took a seat near the arena. An ordinary orange spirit fox was forced into the caged grounds where a fierce-looking owl was already waiting.

  A gong sounded. The owl flapped its small wings and hovered midair while the cautious fox circled him from the outside. It mixed in feints with actual swipes as it tried to wear down its heavily armored foe. Small lacerations appeared on the owl’s metallic wings as the fox’s attacks became increasingly frantic.

  Soon the orange beast’s stamina gave out, leaving an opening for its feathered opponent. The owl let out a piercing screech that hit the fox point blank. It faltered as it let out a plume of fox-fire to escape.

  The fox’s movements became clumsy and lethargic. The owl flapped its tiny wings and raked the fox’s exposed back with its glistening talons. Blood sprayed as the fox howled in pain. The crowd cheered at the sight of fresh blood while Cha Ming winced at the exchange. He hoped the little fox would win and live a little longer. Unfortunately, the odds didn’t seem to be in its favor. The owl repeatedly used the same tactic, adding one wound after another to the fox’s back.

  Just let it end, Cha Ming thought. At that moment, a small fluctuation appeared in the arena. The fox gained a second wind as the energy of heaven and earth rushed into him from all sides. He howled fiercely at the owl, who suddenly shook in fear. Out of nowhere, a second tail popped out beside the first one. Everyone’s eyes practically popped out of their sockets—the odds of something like a bloodline evolution happening mid-match were less than one in a million.

  The owl retreated in a panic as the fox slashed away with its deadly paws. Two hurried swipes caused it to bleed while a third one pushed it to the arena’s cage. It roared before finally biting down on the spirit screeching owl’s tiny body, leaving nothing but a tiny puddle of blood where the spirit beast used to lay.

  “And we have a winner!” the announcer yelled. The tired two-tailed fox was ushered off the stage by an excited tamer. A many-tailed fox was a rare existence, and he would likely get a hefty bonus for managing to raise it to this level. The fox was now in no danger of being killed in the arena—rather, it would be sold to the highest bidder.

  “Next up, we have a neck-and-neck match between a seventh-level dire badger and an eighth-level spirit wolf!” the announcer said. “Don’t let their level disparity deceive you—badgers are known for their tremendous endurance and their rage-based techniques.”

  A large wolf was released into the arena simultaneously with a much larger badger. Crimson streaks highlighted the dire badger’s black-and-white fur. It held its hands defensively as the wolf circled around its weaker prey. From the stands, Cha Ming could see a green aura of vitality surrounding the badger while a frosty aura surrounded the fire spirit wolf and restrained the badger’s movements.

  Slash.

  A bloody gash appeared in the badger’s thick fur. The crowd roared in excitement as their favored spirit beast took the initiative. Their excitement increased as this gash was followed up with a dozen others. The dire badger was a bloody mess, but Cha Ming could tell that the fight had just begun.

  The wolf darted in for another quick strike, only to be interrupted by the dire badger’s sharp claws. It struggled to break lose as the badger closed in with its sharp teeth and began mauling the agile creature. The badger’s wounds healed before the crowd’s eyes as the wolf howled in pain. The previously subdued crowd erupted in cheers as the underdog bled the wolf dry.

  Cha Ming loathed these people, but he wondered if he was any better. He, too, had bet money on this fight and made it happen. He could only hope that his swipe at the arena would make a difference. Although his earnings had increased to 200,000 spirit stones, the large amount of money felt hollow in comparison to the suffering in the arena.

  “We have a problem,” a man said as he approached a masked figure. “A 20,000-spirit-stone bet has gotten through two successive fights and has now been placed on a fight with 10:1 payout.”

  “And why is that a problem?” the owner asked. “Aren’t the odds stacked against him?”

  “Normally I wouldn’t worry about it and let the odds take care of everything,” the man said. “However, after doing a little digging, I realized that he’s friends with that guy we kicked out a few days ago.”

  “You mean Colonel Feng, the welp who won ten straight bets and walked out of here with 200,000?” the owner exclaimed.

  “That’s the one,” the man said. “While we can’t detect his presence, who knows if that guy’s freakish good luck will affect his friends. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

  The masked man pondered for a moment before issuing a rare order. “Poison the bat and try to make it as discreet as possible. I’ll handle the negative karma from violating the bet contracts. Since we’re at, increase the odds to 20:1 to try and rope in any stragglers and hedge bets.”

  The man bowed and disappeared, leaving the masked owner to watch from his elevated platform as red threads of karma trickled into him.

  “Now let’s hope this karma doesn’t come back to bite me all at once,” he mumbled.

  Cha Ming paced nervously as a short intermission was called just before the remaining match. An ordinary spirit bat wouldn’t stand a chance against a higher-level dire badger. The 10:1 odds were actually quite generous toward the larger animal, making it a terrible bet to take. Sure as rain, the large black board by the betting tables flickered. The odds flashed to 20:1 in favor of the spirit bat in a last-ditch attempt to capture more wagers. Unfortunately, his bet was already locked in.

  The crowd calmed after a half hour as they waited patiently for the fight that shouldn’t have held much suspense. When the gates opened, a fierce-looking dire badger charged out and let out loud roar.

  On the other side, a sluggish-looking bat exited a small pen. Cha Ming frowned when he saw its lethargic state. Spirit bats were usually energetic beasts and fought using their superior
speed.

  They wouldn’t do anything to rig the match, would they? Cha Ming thought. Although his resplendent force couldn’t pierce the match’s cage, his sharp eyesight inspected every inch of the bat. He saw a green liquid dripping out of the corner of its mouth. It had clearly been poisoned.

  The dire badger charged out immediately after the gong sounded. The dire badger looked at the bat with disdain as it lazily swiped its paw. To the crowd’s surprise, it missed!

  The distance between both creatures rapidly closed, allowing the bat to somehow latch on to its neck. Surprisingly, the dire badger did something unexpected; it didn’t swat the bat but merely sat down subserviently, allowing it to drain its blood one liter at a time. The more blood it drank, the less lethargic it became.

  The bat grew to twice its size before the weak badger finally managed to throw it off. It swiped defensively as the bat began its usual attack pattern. It attacked with its razor-sharp wings in the badger’s blind spots. The enraged badger could do nothing but passively accept its defeat as cuts accumulated over his weakened body.

  The crowds booed as the badger finally collapsed. The crowd was shocked, and so were the match organizers. The only one who wasn’t surprised was Cha Ming, whose eyes were shining with a purple light. He’d activated the main ability of his Demon-Subduing Eyes to force the badger into submission.

  Although he loathed what he had done, he reminded himself that a loss of two million high-grade spirit stones could very well shut down the arena and deter future investment. This thought did little to ease the pain in his heart.

  Chapter 8: Lucky General

  Feng Ming hated the darkness. It was an irrational fear, one that he often ignored. But every so often, he couldn’t help but glance into the empty nothingness to see if it would glance back. This time, it did. The glance was a prerecorded signal from Cha Ming through the arena walls via transmission jade.

  Feng Ming pushed off the wall, making his way to the rooftop in a single bound. The light of the moon reflected off his obsidian armor; he wasn’t wearing his red colonel’s cape, which was far too flashy for a covert operation. His feet bounced lightly off the stone roof tiles as he executed his movement technique, Fire General’s Steps. It wasn’t ideal for sneaking around, but it was much better than nothing.

  Forty more rooftops, Feng Ming thought. If I’m lucky, we’ll snag a big fish. He felt a little guilty about using Cha Ming as bait, but sometimes you had to gamble big to win big.

  As he ran, his foot caught on a poorly placed roof tile, which caused him to tumble down to the ground below. He watched it fall with concern, only to see it land on a thief’s head. The man, who was just about to steal a woman’s purse, was knocked out cold. Meanwhile, this movement distracted the nearby guards as he passed overhead.

  It wasn’t long before he arrived at his destination: an inconspicuous alley in the eastern quarter of the city. The shadows loomed over a group of men who escorted a blue-robed cultivator. He resembled a naïve nouveau riche following the butchers to his own slaughter. He chuckled as his friend inconspicuously dropped a formation he’d prepared beforehand.

  In an incense time, Feng Ming would have the opening he needed.

  “I don’t understand why all these precautions are necessary,” Cha Ming said as they walked into a run-down entrance. “Couldn’t you have just paid me in the arena?”

  “While we would have liked to, the amount you bet was far too large for us to disburse on the premises,” a well-dressed man said. “The maximum bet for any single round is capped at 20,000, and the odds are typically balanced in such a way that we make a small profit. We aim to even out the odds so that all we collect is one to ten percent of all wagers.

  “Unfortunately for us, your bet was able to bypass our bet limitations as it was chained bet. We don’t carry two million high-grade spirit stones on hand for fear of being robbed. Therefore, any large winnings must be awarded off-premises. It was the same for your friend Colonel Feng.”

  The explanation was obviously full of holes, but Cha Ming didn’t bother to argue against it. He only nodded in muted acceptance as they took him deeper and deeper into their lair. Taverns and whorehouses sprouted everywhere while the more sinister establishments in the city came into view. Cha Ming saw a building with a bloody knife welcoming discreet customers; it stood side by side with a hole in the wall that sold weapons and pills in small quantities at prices far exceeding the current market price.

  The farther they moved the worse it got. Knife fights weren’t uncommon, and neither was the sight of people making love out in the open. The place became a den of hedonism, but fortunately there were limits. He hadn’t yet seen anything that crossed the Song Kingdom’s bottom line like human trafficking or murder in the streets.

  They soon approached a large three-story building. It was noticeably better built than the buildings surrounding it and was defended by guards that were armed to the teeth. As they passed through the black doors at the entrance, Cha Ming’s resplendent force was cut off from the outside world. The only person he could communicate with now was Huxian. As his last avenues of communication had seemingly disappeared, his escort’s reserved nature finally disappeared. They violently shoved him up the stairs and through a door that was twice as tall as a grown man.

  Cha Ming tumbled to the floor in front of a large chair where an abnormally large man was seated. He wore a mask, and unlike the cultivators beside him, his body was bursting with energy. His arms were the size of a large man’s legs, while his legs were the size of a normal man’s body. An ochre aura with a familiar tinge of vitality identified the man as a wood-aligned devil.

  To Cha Ming’s surprise, the man tossed a bag of holding to him. He rapidly scanned the contents and discovered 199 crystal cards and a small pile of high-grade spirit stones.

  “After your loan is repaid, we owe you two million, less twenty thousand spirit stones,” the large man said. “The karma is settled, and I owe you nothing.”

  Cha Ming felt an invisible thread evaporating as two of his existing contracts were resolved simultaneously.

  “How did you do it?” the masked man said. “Was it that damnable man’s luck again, or is it some other ability? There’s no way that dire badger would just stand by and wait for the bat to bleed him to death.”

  Cha Ming stood up and dusted off his blue robes. “I wouldn’t have needed to do anything if you hadn’t poisoned it.”

  “So you admit that you cheated?” the man said.

  “Is there a need to play these games?” Cha Ming retorted. The two stood at an awkward stalemate. Cha Ming waited for a few breaths before continuing. “I came to propose a trade. I’ll let you know about my ability, which is very useful for match rigging, and you will let me live and keep the two million. We’ll consider it a deposit for future business.”

  The large man looked toward a smaller man seated beside him. “How do the numbers work out?”

  “If he can succeed 100% of the time, we can rake in an extra 50,000 high-grade spirit stones per day,” an older man said. “It’s worth looking into. You know my cultivation eats up money like nobody’s business. As do both of yours, for that matter. However, I think that giving someone two million spirit stones up front is ludicrous and risky. We’d need a life-binding oath to facilitate an agreement.”

  “What are your thoughts, my dear?” the large man said to a woman by his side.

  “I think he’s lying, my dear,” she said with a voice that was soft as silk. “He can hide his soul fluctuations, so I can’t trust him. I also don’t like his eyes. I feel like he’s stripping me naked, and not in an enjoyable way.”

  The woman was beautiful beyond all reason. Her long blue hair was soothing, like a trickling spring, while her soft white skin would put alabaster to shame. Like the large man, she, too, had a strong ochre coloring.

  The older man shrugged. “The financial risks of cooperation are high, while simply taking the two million fro
m him along with all his possessions is an extremely profitable move. I’m all right with it either way.”

  This older man’s ochre aura was tinged with gold, and he possessed the distinguished poise of a scholar. As far as Cha Ming could see, all three of them were initial core-formation experts. He didn’t regret his choice to call for backup just before entering.

  “Then it’s settled,” the large man said. “I’ll take his strong body, while you’ll respectively take his money and his soul.” He turned to Cha Ming. “Any last words, little mortal?”

  “I hope you like fireworks,” Cha Ming said.

  They hadn’t noticed that nine golden globes had dropped from his robes and tumbled to the ground in front of them. Their intricate runic patterns lit up, and the single-use formations flooded the entire room with a blinding light. Then the window shattered. The explosive formation he’d laid out earlier finally burst. The three devils, who had been distracted by the combined assault of the nine least-grade blinding formations, were caught flat-footed by the sudden turn of events.

  Cha Ming slapped a Hardening Talisman and over a dozen myriad ice-shield talismans on his body as the aged golden man dashed toward him and struck him with a single fist. It tore through the many ice shields and caused him to fly back through five walls before being stopped by one of the pillars stabilizing the building.

  I’m all right, he sent to Huxian. Take out the water devil first.

  Feng Ming, who had been waiting patiently on the roof just above, summoned a fiery whip, which he fastened to a small chimney.

  Three, two, one, go!

  The blast destroyed the entire wall but stopped short at the roof. Feng Ming jumped off the building and swung in a short arc. Although a blinding light made it unclear who he would be striking, he thrust out with his strongest move: Ash Annihilation. It was an attack that consumed six tenths of his entire qi reserve.

  His blind fighting was rewarded with a shrieking howl. A beautiful woman with blue hair appeared before him; his spear had created a foot-wide hole just beneath her collar bone. She didn’t have a chance to send out the slightest attack before dissolving into a puddle of water. A rush of merit confirmed her demise.